New documentary focuses on neuroscience trailblazer Marian Diamond

A woman places a colorful hatbox on a table and puts on rubber gloves. She carefully reaches inside and removes an unexpected object that she calls the “most magnificent structure on this earth—a human brain. The woman is Marian Diamond, professor emeritus at the University of California Berkeley, and the hatbox is typical of the way she mixes science with everyday life to engage people and spark interest in anatomy. A new documentary, My Love Affair With The Brain, tells the story of her remarkable career, which helped set the foundation for modern neuroscience, and which touched students across the globe. Diamond’s research began with an investigation into the relationship between brain structure and an individual’s surroundings. She developed techniques that allowed precise measurements of changes in anatomy, and compared…